Although most people in the UK will know someone who has received palliative care, whether in hospital, at home or in a hospice, not everyone is aware of the individual who pioneered this area of medicine and, in doing so, transformed the type of care that people with life-limiting conditions receive. Dame Cicely Saunders was born a century ago, on 22nd June 1918, and over the course of her life undertook a number of roles, as a nurse, medical social worker, doctor and research lead, in order to bring her vision of palliative care to realisation. 

St Christopher’s Hospice, which Cicely founded in 1967, is widely recognised as the first place to combine teaching and clinical research, pain and symptom control, and compassionate care. It was here that Cicely was able to develop the approach which was instrumental to the care provided at St Christopher’s; that patients need spiritual, emotional and social support, as well as effective pain relief, at the end of life. This emphasis on the holistic, as well as the physical, needs of patients is a model which has been adopted worldwide and continues to lie at the heart of care for the dying. 

Cicely died in 2005 at the hospice she founded, leaving behind a legacy which continues to influence the person-centred care that patients at the end of life receive. Her life’s work of improving palliative care provision and support for people with progressive illness is continued by the Cicely Saunders Institute, the first purpose-built centre combining research, education and clinical practice, and the foundation established in Cicely’s name, Cicely Saunders International.

Programme of Events

This year, to mark the centenary of Cicely’s birth and her remarkable contributions to the field of palliative care, we are curating a series of events which celebrate her life and showcase the ongoing development of palliative care, both in the UK and internationally. The Cicely Saunders Institute will host a range of lectures, seminars, workshops and other special events, bringing together the research and clinical practice spearheaded by Cicely over the course of her life. 

Read about 100 papers that changed palliative care here.